Thats a really cool thought with the screensaver. I never really thought about it like that.
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Why is Mac better than a PC?
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Thats a really cool thought with the screensaver. I never really thought about it like that.
I don't think you realize this, but you one part of the answer already. People want to use a computer to do whatever they want to do, not to learn what files to open, what files not to open, what kind of components to buy, and how to configure it properly.
Typical Windows user: "I am a rocket scientist because I can make this computer work without getting any viruses".
Typical Macintosh user: "I am a rocket scientist. I need my computer to help me doing rocket science; I don't want to waste time or worry about viruses."
To be honest, what always annoys me is the idiots who think Macs are for users who are too stupid to learn about computers. They really believe that having learnt how to cope with Windows makes them somehow clever.
I don't actually know any rocket scientists using Macs. I do, however, personally know a guy who used his Mac to design a 400 million transistor chip. I do know that among software developers the percentage of Macintosh users is very high, and in my not very humble opinion, the better the software developer, the more likely he or she is to have a Macintosh at home. And we have one poster on MacRumors who uses his eight core MacPro to develop and tune his code before he lets it run on a real computer (which would be a cluster of a few thousand processors).
I agree with you again there. People buy Macs so they can spend less time trying to figure out how to use it, and more time accomplishing what they needed to accomplish in the first place.
I started out as a Windows fanboy. I thought Macs were a Niche product, and the users were in their own little world that could not coexist with PC's. I won't lie, its all true, except the coexisting part.
Frustrated with doing God knows what on XP, and chatting with a computer savvy friend on AIM, he suggested I try a mac. I resisted but was told that chances are, I'd like it,and in a worst case scenario, I'd just resell it to someone else.
So I bought a G4 PowerMac, found a VGA Apple LCD on ebay too, about 300 dollars or so invested. The computer had Tiger on it, and I fell in love, which I will detail in the next paragraph. I retained my Dell Latitude notebook and eventually found myself wanting OS X on the road. I bought a 12" G4 Powerbook and had three computers. Recently, I replaced my aging PowerMac with a C2D Mini, and the PowerBook with a Unibody MacBook. I'm also selling the Dell, since I find myself no longer needing Windows as much.
I fell in love with the Mac OS. The hardware is really irrelevant to me, but because Apple configures the hardware, they can fine tune the OS to take full advantage of, and be stable on the hardware.
Thats not to say Mac's don't crash, they do. Granted, the way OS X is structured, if your browser crashes, you CMD+OPT+ESC (Just like Window's Ctrl+Alt+Del) and you kill the crashed app. 90% of the time, the app instantly shuts down and offers to relaunch. sometimes is takes a few more seconds, and every so ofter an hard reboot is necessary, but who hasn't done that with a PC?
A lot of things in OS X just make sense. The System Preferences App, which is like your Windows Control Panel is clearly laid out, and if you want to change something, it's either there for changing, or you can't. In Control Panel, you can get lost in dialog box after dialog box.
In every windows app, there are some sort of options, or settings, or preferences choice in the menu bar, usually under tools, sometimes edit, who knows really. Everything in OS X is coded to have all the behind the scenes adjustables in the App's menu in the menu bar. If you're in Safari, just click Safari in the menu bar and then preferences. It's a little thing, but those mean the most sometimes.
The switch for me was hesitant at first. I was cautiously optimistic about OS X. That grew to a fascination, and eventual conversion. When I get around to putting the Dell on ebay, I will no longer own any non-apple branded computers. I do run Windows for Legacy PC's in parallels because some programs I like arent coded for OS X.
I'm not trying to say that OS X is definitively better. I feel liek it is in many regards, but thats the beauty of the Modern Mac. It can run windows, so you can retain your apps that are windows only. A mac is really the best of both worlds for me, and I think you should at least try. Dissing something and having never tried it is ignorant in most cases.
(I say most because I don't need to cut my arm off to know that it's probalby a bad idea, but I can't hate on Linux if I'v enever given it a chance)
Frustrated with doing God knows what on XP, and chatting with a computer savvy friend on AIM, he suggested I try a mac. I resisted but was told that chances are, I'd like it,and in a worst case scenario, I'd just resell it to someone else.
So I bought a G4 PowerMac, found a VGA Apple LCD on ebay too, about 300 dollars or so invested. The computer had Tiger on it, and I fell in love, which I will detail in the next paragraph. I retained my Dell Latitude notebook and eventually found myself wanting OS X on the road. I bought a 12" G4 Powerbook and had three computers. Recently, I replaced my aging PowerMac with a C2D Mini, and the PowerBook with a Unibody MacBook. I'm also selling the Dell, since I find myself no longer needing Windows as much.
I fell in love with the Mac OS. The hardware is really irrelevant to me, but because Apple configures the hardware, they can fine tune the OS to take full advantage of, and be stable on the hardware.
Thats not to say Mac's don't crash, they do. Granted, the way OS X is structured, if your browser crashes, you CMD+OPT+ESC (Just like Window's Ctrl+Alt+Del) and you kill the crashed app. 90% of the time, the app instantly shuts down and offers to relaunch. sometimes is takes a few more seconds, and every so ofter an hard reboot is necessary, but who hasn't done that with a PC?
A lot of things in OS X just make sense. The System Preferences App, which is like your Windows Control Panel is clearly laid out, and if you want to change something, it's either there for changing, or you can't. In Control Panel, you can get lost in dialog box after dialog box.
In every windows app, there are some sort of options, or settings, or preferences choice in the menu bar, usually under tools, sometimes edit, who knows really. Everything in OS X is coded to have all the behind the scenes adjustables in the App's menu in the menu bar. If you're in Safari, just click Safari in the menu bar and then preferences. It's a little thing, but those mean the most sometimes.
The switch for me was hesitant at first. I was cautiously optimistic about OS X. That grew to a fascination, and eventual conversion. When I get around to putting the Dell on ebay, I will no longer own any non-apple branded computers. I do run Windows for Legacy PC's in parallels because some programs I like arent coded for OS X.
I'm not trying to say that OS X is definitively better. I feel liek it is in many regards, but thats the beauty of the Modern Mac. It can run windows, so you can retain your apps that are windows only. A mac is really the best of both worlds for me, and I think you should at least try. Dissing something and having never tried it is ignorant in most cases.
(I say most because I don't need to cut my arm off to know that it's probalby a bad idea, but I can't hate on Linux if I'v enever given it a chance)
This is probably the most incorrect thing I have heard all day. Sometimes you do not even have to open anything up yourself to get an infection on a PC.
In addition, saying a "PC will not crash if it's using good components and configured properly" is preposterous. I have had many a PC crash on me the first day I bought them. I was a PC user for years and years. So either the manufacturers don't know what they're doing (wrong) or windows sucks (right).
As far as my input, the Mac is better because of OS X Leopard. The operating system is so much easier to use, and there are little things that you'll only learn after using it for a few weeks. They are small little things that help you get stuff done faster; I really appreciate those things.
The applications run much smoother, pretty much all look like the mac OS, and do some really cool things.
I personally dont own a Mac yet. I am a windows Vista user and have a Dell XPS. During the last 2 years that I've had my Dell, Ive already had to completely re-install windows twice.
I will admit that if you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have never considered switching to a Mac.
After I took the time to really look at them, however, and watch some of the videos on Apples website, I realized that OS X was the operating system for me.
I have been saving up for a MacBook Pro ever since. Im not even close yet, but Ill get there.
I will admit that if you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have never considered switching to a Mac.
After I took the time to really look at them, however, and watch some of the videos on Apples website, I realized that OS X was the operating system for me.
I have been saving up for a MacBook Pro ever since. Im not even close yet, but Ill get there.
prettier, faster, more stable, more intuitive, more tightly integrated with the hardware...
I see this alot, what does it mean!?
I personally dont own a Mac yet. I am a windows Vista user and have a Dell XPS. During the last 2 years that I've had my Dell, Ive already had to completely re-install windows twice.
I will admit that if you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have never considered switching to a Mac.
After I took the time to really look at them, however, and watch some of the videos on Apples website, I realized that OS X was the operating system for me.
I have been saving up for a MacBook Pro ever since. Im not even close yet, but Ill get there.
I did the exact same thing. I know this sounds ridiculous and I might catch hell for sounding like such a fanboy, but I switched to Mac after Vista and Mac has really changed my life. Business, college and home computer tasks are so much easier, so much more fun. It's just much better.
Most people, like you and I, just don't know about Mac if they use Windows. That is Apple's biggest problem.
It means the programs are wrote in a much cleaner way. If you know about websites, then you'd know some websites are "valid" and some are not, simply meaning the valid websites adhere to strict "rules" of writing code.
Apps and mac are the same thing. Essentially.
I cant wait to experience that change. Everyone in my family, and most of my friends, are Vista users. But when it takes you a week to set up a home network, and then another week to connect to a shared printer, then you know its time to switch.
Who knows, maybe some of my friends will like my Mac so much that they will switch too.
I cant wait to experience that change. Everyone in my family, and most of my friends, are Vista users. But when it takes you a week to set up a home network, and then another week to connect to a shared printer, then you know its time to switch.
Who knows, maybe some of my friends will like my Mac so much that they will switch too.
I still haven't figured out how to share files on Windows. Maybe I gave up too soon. Actually, no. I even had two different computer repair Co.'s come out and set it up for me. They couldn't do it. Case in point.
I'm happy for you about getting a Mac! It's well worth it, hands down. The printers work, in fact I have never had an issue with any hardware. It's amazing.
All the more reason I cant wait to get one. Hopefully Ill finally be able to buy it within the next few months. Probably right around the time that Snow Leopard is finally released.
Ok, what is a real life situation in which I would notice this? I'm seriously thinking about a macbook at the minute so I don't want to come across as seeming funny but I see these words written alot with no backing or real meaning. How does this benefit the average user
To be fair they don't design the hardware, they just choose it. Though they have control of this which makes everything run better.
Windows is FAR better than Mac OS X for one thing: If you want to view and document the effects of thousands of viruses on your system, Windows will accommodate the task handily. Mac OS X will fail miserably, as you can't get the damn things to run on it!
Since I switched to Mac 3 years ago, I've found that I know more about my computer than I ever did before. It's fun to learn about Mac, because it logically laid out, things make sense, and there's usually some point to what you're doing.
I always found Windows frustrating to try to learn. Every step deeper into the bowels of the OS seemed like a step deeper into a particular type of hell populated with spaghetti logic demons, all shouting "Because thats where we decided to put it!", and gnawing the crushed spirits of the unfortunates who wandered into the Registry.
You don't have to hunt for drivers, as apple put together the whole thing. Plus if something does go wrong, apple are responsible for the whole thing, instead of the 'oh it's windows fault.' or 'oh it's a hardware fault.'
Apples are total niche computers!
Apples are total niche computers and there are very few areas where where they excel over their Windows counterparts. For clarity I will list a few areas, IMO, where the average user might possibly use an Apple.
Here goes...
Browsing
Emailing
Buying stuff (lots-O-stuff)
Grid computing
Social networking
Digital photo work
Video work
Word processing
Presenting
Paying bills
Planning an entire holiday (vacation)
Transferring files
Accounting
Graphic designing
CAD/CAM/CAE
Data entry
Blah, blah, blah...
That's just a few of the super niche things that Apples excel at but I realize that these tasks may never be encountered by many computer users. For other, more common, tasks that are not mentioned in the list I whole heartedly recommend using Windows.
Apples are total niche computers and there are very few areas where where they excel over their Windows counterparts. For clarity I will list a few areas, IMO, where the average user might possibly use an Apple.
Here goes...
Browsing
Emailing
Buying stuff (lots-O-stuff)
Grid computing
Social networking
Digital photo work
Video work
Word processing
Presenting
Paying bills
Planning an entire holiday (vacation)
Transferring files
Accounting
Graphic designing
CAD/CAM/CAE
Data entry
Blah, blah, blah...
That's just a few of the super niche things that Apples excel at but I realize that these tasks may never be encountered by many computer users. For other, more common, tasks that are not mentioned in the list I whole heartedly recommend using Windows.
